The Victorious Beauty and The Scarecrow
by Railomica
Summary: The tragic and heart warming story of Katsumi and her children. After a broken marriage can she pick up the pieces of life that are left to her? Will she forever be scared, or will someone mend her heart and soul. KakashixOC story.


She awoke suddenly from her sleep and looked around the room. "What the hell?," where the only words she could manage to mumble as she reached for her alarm clock. It was 7 am and she did not want to get up, but then realized that the day would wait for no one. As she slammed a hand down on the alarm clock before turning it off, she sighed disappointingly, "Why do I never get any good sleep around here?" Although she new the answer, it was a question to avoid the truth. Turning over in the bed, she hugged the pillow tightly as if becoming one with the down filled cloth and grunted slightly. It was a bit obvious that she did not wish to be up but who was there to notice? No one, no one was there at all. With a final sigh of frustration she moved off the bed, placing her feet on the floor before standing up for a stretch. "Gah, that felt good," she managed to mutter out of a contorted yawn. With that she slipped her feet into a pair of fluffy slippers and strolled out of the room in a slow fashion.

She opened a closed door down the small hallway of the house to check on her children. "If only I could sleep like that," she said in a disappointed tone before closing the door. Slowly turning around and leaning against the door she figured that she would wake them up after she took her shower and made breakfast. On that thought she made her way to the bathroom, but not before tripping over a stuffed bear. "Damn, stupid bear," she muttered as she picked it up and threw it down the hall. Boy, did she have a short fuse during the morning hours and no one was safe from her wrath, not even the innocent teddy bear. Stepping into the bathroom she closed the door and started the shower, making sure the sliding door was closed completely before going to the mirror. "I look like crap, total crap," she sighed as if looking at some bum off the street. Her hair was messed up beyond belief and make-up still adorned her face, but it looked more like running paint. Sighing one last time she made her way into the shower knowing that she needed to hurry up.

When 8:30 rolled around two bright-eyed little boys slipped out of their room to the scent of bacon and eggs. As if guided by an invisible string, they slowly walked down the hallway into a large kitchen. Seeing them enter she smiled. "Morning sweeties," she said while placing their plates on the table, noticing that they sat down and started digging in before she could ask how they slept. Letting a giggle come forth from her body she sat down to eat as well, enjoying a full meal before the day truly started.

Everything seemed clean now as she headed to a mirror to make sure everything was still ok. Seeing that she still looked presentable she made her way down the hallway and knocked on the first closed door. "Come on you two, get your behinds into the living room, pronto," she said loud enough that the door opened and two boys ran past her. "Geez, slow down! I've told you not to run in the house!," she screamed as the two little figures disappeared into another room. "Oh well, at least they're in the living room now," she muttered as she closed the door and walked towards the front of the house. Before she could even make it into the living room a knock came at the front door. Standing still in fear she managed to say, "One moment," hoping that it was the Konoha ninja. Once she managed to open the door she sighed in relief and let the men in with a smile. "Don't mind the mess," she stuttered as she happened to notice the kids knocking the toys out of a large bin, "I had it clean just a second ago." One of the men let out a small assuring giggle and bent down to wink at the boys.

It seemed like forever that these ninja had been in her house but she realized they had only been there for thirty minutes. As a sign of frustration she let out a sigh while hanging her head. One of the three men noticed and assured her with his words, "This should only take a bit longer, so please bare with us." She smiled, but only slightly, as she turned her head to glance out a window. "So, what exactly happened that night?," a small framed man asked her with a concerned look on his face. She took a deep breath and thought it best just to get it over with. "Well, my husband came home from work as is the usual for a working man. We had dinner and he played with the kids until their bedtime," she paused and glanced back out the window but this time she could feel it. There was a burning in her chest, a pain in her heart, and she was scared for her life. Almost as if to calm herself and avoid any further complications she turned back and said, "You know, never mind. Please, just never mind this whole situation. I apologize for any time wasted." Almost as soon as she finished her sentence a tall white haired ninja spoke up, "Ma'am, we need to know what happened. If not for yourself, do this for your boys." His words stung deep and she wanted to hit him for bring her children into the discussion, but she knew he was also right. Glancing at her shaking hands she managed to whisper, "He became violent. I don't know what I did." Placing her hands upon her face she started crying, sobbing loud enough for her children to turn around.

Moments later she looked at the man who had went to play with the children and sighed, "Is this usual?" The white haired ninja assured her, "Since you may wind up crying again Gai thought it best to keep the childrens attention on something other then their worried and hurt mother." She nodded with understanding and continued, "After putting the kids in bed we made our way to the kitchen. I thought nothing of it and started to make a snack. That's when he..." Almost instantly she started shaking and sobbing, covering her whole face with her hands but not even a second later her hands where in anothers embrace. She jumped a little and looked up, only glancing at the man long enough to see his tilted forehead protector. "It's ok, you can continue. No one is going to hurt you," the man said coolly, despite his words being half true. She thought upon it and knew that she could get hurt again.

If no one was around, he could hurt her, maybe even kill her. At this she went blank and almost threw-up but not before asking if they could be certain of his capture. "We are certain that we can capture him. If he has done this to you, then he could very well do this to another. So, you need to tell us everything," a young small framed man taking notes stated. Deciding to speak up now or forever be lost in worry she spoke, "He grabbed me by the throat...," she continued with a scared tone, "Without a word he slapped me hard enough that I fell to the floor." She needed to catch her breath so she hung her head in silence for a second. "He started to kick me," she touched the large black and blue bruise on her cheek before saying anymore, "Then he grabbed me by my throat once more and threw me into the fridge." As if feeling her pain the white haired ninja asked, "What happened next?," his eyes looking sad as he was thinking over what she said. None the wiser to this mans feeling of sorrow for her she finished, "He left the house saying that he would return but that he would most likely beat me worse then this." She looked down at the floor, blankly, as two arms embraced her, "It's going to be all right, trust us," the man said with a smile that went unnoticed.

As the men finished a private conversation they noticed that the woman had just returned from taking her children to their room for a nap. "Ma'am," the small framed ninja spoke up, "We feel it best if one of us stays here until the Hokage can look over this report." She looked up and sighed, "How long is that going to take?," a hint of disappointment strung out in her voice. "Well, it should be all settled today. The Hokage wants to look at your report as soon as we return and I am sure he will handle it swiftly," the same man stated. As if giving up she agreed, "Well, I guess it would be all right then." Saying this she went into the kitchen and poured herself a large glass of water. While drinking she was startled by a hand placed on her shoulder, in return, dropping the glass. "I apologize," was all she heard and it was not her husband.

Turning around she noticed the white haired man standing there with a sheepish face. She couldn't help but giggle while she leaned against the table. "Well, you gave me quite the scare," she laughed out only to assure herself that this man was here. "And I apologize for scaring you, if you can accept," the man said with a true expression. "Well, it's no big deal," she mumbled while reaching for the broom, "I just need to get this glass off the floor before the little energizer bunnies get up." With that said she started to clean the mess of glass noticing that the man sat down at the table. "Um, can I ask what your name is?," she asked as she swept the last bit of glass into the dustpan. "Hatake Kakashi," the white haired man answered coolly. "Hum, original name you have there," she laughed a bit in a joking manner. "Well, I can ask you the same. So, what is your name?," he asked while letting out a laugh. "I thought you would have remembered that seeing that you guys took the report," frowning as she dumped the glass into the garbage bag. Almost instantly he replied, "Well, tell me again." "Geez, well anyway, it's Akimoto Katsumi," she stated while turning to face the man with a smile.


End file.
